The problem with toplane, from a toplaner

Hello boards! Some of you might've seen me around, I previously went by Encephalon Decay but these days I like go by Noxian Pride. As the title would imply, I'm here to talk about the state of toplane, from my personal perspective.

To give you a bit of background, I'm obviously a toplane main. To be a bit more specific, I mostly play what I consider "Carry" tops. I ended last season at G5 with a 70-ish% winrate on Darius, but I also play the likes of Riven, Fiora, Swain (hype for the rework), Trundle, Teemo, and other champs that, admittedly, are often considered 'cancer' toplaners. I feel like with effort I could probably hit at least G3-P5 range, but I just wanted season rewards and out, so I stopped at G5.

For a slight disclaimer: Yes, the majority of my champ pool is considered 'weak' or at least 'slightly underpowered' right now. I'm aware of that, and I'm aware that this may make me appear biased, given naturally I'd want my champions to be strong. However, I do my best to be neutral as I simply want my champions to be playable. I don't like the idea of my champions being overpowered because I also like them not being permabanned, aye?

Now, to the meat of this post. Why are so many people considering toplane to be in such a bad state right now?

Well, there's a few factors that go into this. Let's start with what I feel is the biggest one.

1: Kleptomancy needs to be toned down. A lot.

Thankfully according to Quick Gameplay Thoughts January 5th, Riot is already planning on nerfing this rune. I just want to express how much this needs to go through and not be reconsidered though.

Ask any toplane player that doesn't hardcounter or play or what they think of them, and I can near-guarantee most of the responses you get will be ones of frustration at just how incredibly safe/powerful their lane has become. What these champions all have in common is they're kleptomancy abusers, and in doing so they have acquired a reliable gold source aside from or even on top of CSing, alongside potentially infinite health and mana sustain throughout laning phase if the itemdrops favor them. And yet, all of these champions were considered fine or even moderately underpowered before season 8. The results of this based on various analysis sites (Op.gg, Champion.gg, lolalytics, to name a few), is Nasus and Gangplank are consistently the top 3 toplaners, and Illaoi is consistently top 10.

This is not me calling for those champions to be nerfed. The problem isn't the champion. The problem is the rune. This rune has already caused Sona to get gutted, and word-of-boards is they're considering nerfing Ezreal, another Klepto abuser, "If Klepto changes don't look like enough" (Also from QGPT January 5th).

I'm sure the players who play these champions not because they're strong right now, but because they genuinely like the champion, would much rather see this rune get nerfed before their champion gets nerfed. Let's not have them get Olaf'd Sejuani'd Sona'd.

Save the champions, kill the rune.

2: Bruisers/Duelists need a keystone

Yes, I'm piling duelists into this. While ADC duelists like Lucian and Vayne are doing ok (I think, that's not my lane so I don't know for sure), specifically toplane duelists tend to also somewhat merge into the bruiser category. While in the following bits I'll just be referring to bruisers, I also have toplane duelists in mind. Examples include and

Thankfully, it's known that this is issue is also being worked on. Unfortunately, according to Meddler, apparently this is difficult to do without causing problems

The reality is, bruisers are struggling right now. Hard. People who play the likes of and (specifically bruiser build, not assassin) , among others, are distinctly not having a good time in toplane right now, the natural home of every one of these champions. Though I hope that doesn't end up being the case, Riot might have to bite the bullet here and make a keystone specifically tailored for bruisers, because otherwise if they can't figure out something that leaves options that pretty much are putting bandaids on an infected wound (I.E. overbuff bruisers, nerf the shit out of everyone else, or worst of all, just leave them unhappy). I do hope they figure out a keystone that works for bruisers without being too strong on another sub-class, but given the nature of how the different classes function, they may not end up having much of a choice.

All that said, why is it these champions are all struggling right now?

Simply put: These champions were all Fervor users. Fervor was the perfect tool for champions who thrived in extended trades, and without this tool they're doing noticeably worse in said trades. (Incoming Darius rant).

I can't speak for many of the bruisers, but something I've said in the past as a Darius main, when my champion, who is specifically designed to shit on tanks, is losing in EXTENDED trades with tanks, there is a problem with how toplane is functioning. I'm not talking about "Fight to just before 5 stacks, back out, sustain back up, fight again", I'm talking truly extended trades. These champions are willingly continuing to fight at 5stacks and winning. Given Darius' nature as a juggernaut, this isn't how that's supposed to work. You're supposed to beat Darius by short trading and/or poking him to death, not by just staying on him and swinging away.

Ending my Darius rant though: I've heard similar complaints from players who main the above-listed champions. Their champion is supposed to excel in extended trades (or at least are supposed to be good duelists), especially the anti-tank champions, and yet not one of them seems to have the base stats to beat champions that aren't each other anymore.

The stat compensations for the loss of Fervor were not enough. We needed a reliable keystone yesterday.

3: Bramble Vest is still a problem

This issue is not nearly as bad as it used to be, but it still is a problem. This is essentially an addition to the problem of bruisers not having a keystone.

Why?

Bruisers by definition are champions that utilize healing, excessive auto attacking, or both, in order to come out on top during trades. This item functioning how it does is one of the primary reasons bruisers are getting consistently out-traded by tanks. It's simply too efficient at what it does for its gold cost.

"But Noxian, Bramble Vest/Thornmail don't cripple ADC's, who have the same qualities."

Bramble Vest builders are tanks 9/10 times. 9/10 tanks are melee-range champions. 9/10 bruisers are also melee-range champions. Bramble isn't a problem for ADC's because it's the only damage they're taking from said tanks, it's a problem for bruisers because in order for a bruiser to fight them, now the tank has to be in range to swing back. The damage reduction, reduced healing, and damage reflection from Bramble Vest are not a problem alone, believe it or not. They become a problem when the champion fighting it must also be in range for the Bramble user to utilize their own abilities and auto attacks.

These combined factors essentially lets tanks, champions who historically have had a bad early game where they're forced to farm and avoid fighting, out-trade the champions designed specifically with trading and fighting their laners in mind. Take a moment to consider that phrase.

Conclusion

Are these probably all the problems? No. But I feel these are the most prevalent ones. Do I have all the answers? Definitely not, I'm just one person and I'm not even all that good at the game. I do enjoy analysis though, and this is what I've gotten out of it. I hope all these points have made sense to anyone that reads this, and I'll happily try to answer any questions that come up in the comments. Naturally I also hope this gets Rioter attention.